elfen_liedfandomcom-20200223-history
Elfen Lied Controversies
This article is set up to address questions that bring about notable disagreements by fans of Elfen Lied, either with each other, or with the possible/perceived intent of the mangaka. Evidence will be presented fairly representing both points of view (more if needed) and, unless direct word from Okamoto-San emerges, no final conclusion will be drawn. 'Number Three and Nana' The Controversy : Is Diclonius Silpelit Number Three the older sister of Nana, a member of the main cast? The Evidence For '': One source lists this possibility and says it came from what is described as 'The Official Elfen Lied Website'. But whether this is official to ARMS, the manga company that published Elfen Lied, to Lynn Okamoto himself, or to a group of dedicated native fans who were perhaps in contact with Okamoto-San is never made clear. In any event, only bare remnants remain of that site online, and no answer seems to be found in what is still available. It would hardly be unique for an author to connect two of his characters in such a way. Both girls are part of Kurama's moral journey, his early revulsion at the treatment of the horned girls at the Diclonius Research Institute causing Number Three to seek him out when she escaped, and infecting him with the Diclonius virus just before her death, in an act that seemed less vengeful than a form of 'thanks'. This in turn leads to the birth of Mariko, the loss of Hiromi, and then Kurama's desperate loving bond with Nana. Nana and Number Three being siblings would bookend Kurama's journey back to his Humanity, and offer redemption for his inability to help or save Three. Certainly, the two girls bore a resemblance to each other. Authors often know the lives and fates of even their most obscure characters. Author JK Rowling is especially noted for this, and can likely tell you who Neville Longbottom dated before he married his eventual wife, and if the two ever kept in touch after his marriage. While Okamoto-San is not noted for his public appearances (at one time reportedly suffering from intense agoraphobia) he likely 'knows' which relatives kept Kouta after he was released from the mental hospital, and what happened to the woman who claimed Wanta was her dog, and the fate of the marriage of Mayu's mother after she fled that abusive home. In one chapter, it is said that the parents of Number Three tried once again to have children, only to find that they had Diclonius twins. It does not seem impossible that one of these twins could be Nana. In another part of Kurama's journey, it was this birth that once and for all confirmed that a virus was infecting parents, and not the unborn children after conception, and led to the idea there was a Queen Diclonius. If correct, this idea could unite the fates of all the major Diclonius in the series. ''The Evidence Against : We never see the initial bonding between Nana and Kurama, so finding out if she was one of those twin girls is impossible. One of the most damaging pieces of information against this theory is that each fansite that lists the idea of the two being sisters uses the same sentences nearly verbatim, as though copied directly from an original source, rather than explanations of where this idea came from. In citing only this website now no longer available, questions are raised. Was this idea/fact/theory presented by someone truly in the know, or in a fan forum whose speculation was misread as fact? At the moment, the intent of Lynn Okamoto in this matter is simply not known for certain. (For this article, the original author searched several sites, none of which offered up interviews or such, only the knowledge of this largely vanished site). But whatever the mangaka meant to be the case, a huge compelling factor against this being the truth is the timeline of the series. Nana's age at the time of her introduction is said to be half that of her physical appearance, between twelve and fourteen years old. If she is between six and seven, and her deadly encounter with Lucy happened fairly soon after the series starts, then she is in effect too old to be one of the twin girls mentioned earlier. An eight-year gap spans the time between Lucy's murder of Kouta's family and Kouta and Nyu meeting again on the beach. Lucy was active for five of those years, infecting and murdering in the Kamakura Area. For three years after the (apparent) death of Aiko Takada, Lucy was a captive at the Institute. For the moment, the dates of publication of Elfen Lied will be treated as literal to the history of the series. If the series began in June 2002, this places the train murders in late August or early September of 1994 (it was the end of summer, and Kouta and Kanae had to go back to school). This would mean that Lucy was killing and infecting Kamakura residents from Fall of 1994 to Summer or early Fall of 1999. At the series start in 2002, Nana is at least six, and at least having entered physical puberty. Nana would have been born sometime in 1996. Mariko (with her first appearance in 2003) was said to be five years old, placing her birth sometime in 1998. Kurama stated that Hiromi became pregnant with Mariko six months after his encounter with Number Three, placing said encounter sometime in 1997. For Nana to be as old as we saw her, even with doubled aging, she could be again born no later than late 1996. It appears instead that she and Number Three were part of the same wave of initial infections by Lucy, and were possibly the same age or very close to it. Number Three already had vectors, making her more than three years old, and indeed her appearance seemed that of a six to eight year old. The births of the Diclonius twins to Number Three's mother preceded Mariko's birth by only a few months (Hiromi was pregnant and the mass euthanizing of horned infants had begun). By these times and dates (even if actual years are removed from the process) Nana would have already been a year or more old when these twins were born. Conclusion : Only the word of Lynn Okamoto can resolve these matters. In effect, if he should say that Nana and Number Three are Onee-Sama and Imouto, then all speculation and argument is moot, and all talk of years is just the mistakes that any series runs into when trying to tie together a coherent timeline. But there are still logic problems with this idea, and if this was the author's intent, a positive argument at least as if not even more complicated as the one against it would be needed to support why this is so. 'Yuka' The Controversy : A fair amount of fans seem to dislike Yuka, ranging from mere distaste to near hate. Possible Explanations : Yuka occupies an unenviable position for any character. She is the apparent winner in a 'harem' scenario, favored by the author but not all fans. She seems to be viewed by many as the main obstacle to the union of Kouta and Lucy/Nyu, the many plot obstacles to this aside. She is not the first to be viewed so. Her 'elder sister' in harem anime (and possible partial inspiration, for Yuka and many an anime lady), Love Hina's Naru Narusegawa, is often the subject of deaths and downfalls initiated by fan writers who prefer the other ladies of the Hinata-Sou. Another problem is the wide exposure of the anime, which is indeed the first way many fans first come to know the series. In many an adaptation, complex character motivations are crunched by time constraints; If a movie adaptation includes a dramatic scene where a tough character punches out a snarky character after a sharp remark, it may seem like the tough character is casually violent. But in either the original novel or the novelization of the movie, it can be seen that the snarky character was constantly pestering the tough one until they gave in and erupted. Perhaps this was even meant to be filmed, but lack of time or an objection by someone associated with the film caused it to be cut, leaving a scene that has now veered off far afield of the writer's intent. Yuka does in fact strike Kouta on some occasions in the manga, probably almost equal to the anime. But whereas the manga can go ten or more chapters between any sort of angry incident with Yuka, to the anime viewer, she is striking him again in the very next episode, or even later that same episode. A necessary feature of screen adaptations is the flagging of certain aspects of the character, emphasized for good or ill. Bando is more aggressive; Mayu leaves her past behind more easily; Nyu's progress is a bit stunted in favor of humor, and so forth. Any reasonable moments Yuka has in the manga are largely left behind, making her traits of suspicion and fragile feelings sometimes all that is left. In the manga for example, Yuka is just as apt to warn Nyu about acting 'perverted' (and even in the anime, admits that Nyu is actually far worse in that regard) and also shows affection towards her without jealousy. As mentioned elsewhere, another problem has been the legality (if still relative rarity) in Japan of first cousins' marrying. This can make Yuka (and to a lesser extent Kouta) seem like she has even deeper problems than a temper and intense disappointment in their reunion. To those raised to believe a first or second cousin is simply a sibling once removed, their romance and likely eventual marriage can even seem revolting, and Yuka can seem a stalker with an immoral obsession. Conclusion : The intermix of all the factors listed above keep dislike of Yuka around and each one can and does intensify the others. The wider exposure of information about the series can alleviate some of Yuka's problems. But since the author determined (seemingly) that it was she and not Lucy that won Kouta's hand in marriage, Yuka will likely always receive some fan ire. Category:Series Information Category:Real Lied